The debate on pensions, which very directly affects almost 10 million people in Spain, gains unusual strength in the final stretch of the electoral campaign on 23-J. After being forced to rectify the day before about the revaluations of these benefits according to the CPI during the mandates of Mariano Rajoy, Alberto Núñez Feijóo has alerted today about the tensions that, in his opinion, threaten the sustainability of the pension system. And the Government, barely five days before the appointment with the polls, has replied: “Today pensions are guaranteed by law,” warned the minister spokesperson, the socialist Isabel Rodríguez.
The spokesperson for the Executive has measured her response to the millimeter, this Tuesday at the press conference that she held after the last meeting of the Council of Ministers before the general elections next Sunday, to try to avoid new complaints by the Popular Party before the Electoral Board Central. “I am not going to enter the electoral debate or the position of the different political parties and their candidates,” she has argued. But, straight away, she did want to convey “a message of absolute tranquility, on behalf of the Government, to Spanish pensioners.”
“Today pensions, and therefore the peace of mind of all men and women who receive a pension in Spain, are guaranteed by law,” warned Isabel Rodríguez. “There is a law that protects the increase in pensions according to the growth in the cost of living”, she has highlighted, after the initiative promoted by the Government, and approved by the Cortes, in this legislature.
The minister spokesperson has indicated that the Government is also committed to the European Commission, within the recovery plan, not only that the increase in pensions according to the CPI is guaranteed by law, but that the public pension system is also guaranteed, ” for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow”, with the endorsement of the European institutions.
And he stressed that, thanks to the Government’s economic policy, “for the first time after many years” he has returned to inject budgetary resources into the pension piggy bank, of up to 3,000 million euros in this annuity, “precisely to also sustain the pensions of tomorrow.
“The message that I want to convey on behalf of the Government of Spain is absolute peace of mind for pensioners. Just as they have seen their pensions revalued this year, they will see them revalued next year”, the minister spokesperson assured.
Isabel Rodríguez also wanted to dismantle another of the controversial arguments of the leader of the Popular Party, when he raised suspicions about the work of the Post Office in this electoral process. The minister spokesperson thus highlighted “the guarantee of the Spanish democratic system and the electoral process”, through the public postal service. And she has recognized, on behalf of the Government, “the impeccable work of the men and women who work in this public service to guarantee the right to vote for citizens.”
The spokesperson for the Executive also did not want to make any assessment of the absence of Feijóo in the electoral debate that RTVE will organize tomorrow, with the presence of Pedro Sánchez, Santiago Abascal and Yolanda Díaz. But she has highlighted the importance of electoral debates, “and of comparing projects and ideas, so that citizens can make a critical value judgment before casting their vote.” “Welcome to all the debates”, she has defended.
“And of course also those that are carried out on public television, which belongs to everyone”, underlined Isabel Rodríguez. Exactly the same public entity where the day before Feijóo committed his “inaccuracy” about the revaluation of pensions according to the CPI. “Veracity in the field of democracy, and much more in an electoral context, is always a value,” the minister spokesperson has settled.
